Exclusive | National Dog Show champ Soleil shocked…
Nabbing top-dog standing at the National Dog Show could be a long, ruff journey.
But the crowning achievement is well worth the nerve-racking buildup for a prized pooch’s handler — and perhaps even the winner.
“The adrenaline just goes everywhere. You get butterflies, your stomach drops all the way down to your toes, and you kind of want to make sure you don’t look like a fool because you just want to jump up and down,” Daniel Martin solely told The Post after his black Belgian Sheepdog, Soleil, took home Best in Show last month.
“It’s a great feeling,” the 34-year-old from Princeton, North Carolina, said of taking the trophy alongside his 5½-year-old charge at the beloved contest, hosted by the Kennel Club of Philadelphia on Nov. 15 and 16.
A proud Daniel Martin and his black Belgian Sheepdog, Soleil, stand close to the Best in Show trophy after capturing the top honor at the National Dog Show last month.
Martin is even satisfied that Soleil, whose identify means “sun” in French, is aware of what goes on, too, when she’s putting a pose for the judges.
“She gets these looks in her eyes at these big events,” he said. “It’s like she can feel the crowd, and she knows they’re all watching her, and she wants to put on this big spectacle show.”
Soleil beat out almost 2,000 other pups at the twenty fourth annual competitors — including both the No. 1 all-breed canine in the nation and the top-winning Toy Group champ in historical past. It was also her seventh best in show title, a document for her breed.
“I feel very honored, very special, and it’s important for the breed,” added a proud Martin. “I love that I got to be a part of that.”
“Every show, I know that she’s capable of doing it, but you never know at these types of events because all the competition is just equally as nice,” he told The Post. “It all comes down to the judges on that day, and we just happened to get lucky.”
Martin and Soleil have been put through the paces at the event, though Martin had no doubt his canine contender might develop into top canine. Steve Donahue/See Spot Run Photo
This yr’s Best in Show decide, Charles L. Olvis of Lake Wales, Florida, who has beforehand owned a Belgian Sheepdog himself, said that Soleil was chosen because “she has dream breed type and moves beautifully. She has a gorgeous head and perfect tail set.”
“It was a bit of a surprise when Soleil made it to the final seven, but when they came into the ring for Best in Show, you knew she belonged,” commentator David Frei, who has co-hosted the show since it started in 2002, told The Post. “Then it wasn’t a surprise when she won. And Daniel did a great job handling.”
Martin and his spouse, Amanda Giles, have dealt with canine for about 15 years. They have only been with Soleil for a yr, since the start of December 2024, but Martin has already appeared at more than 100 exhibits with her.
In that short quantity of time, Martin never had any doubts that the pup was succesful of taking home the top national prize — even if the ultimate consequence was in the end a shocker for him.
“I knew deep down she had it in her, but it really surprised me on such a great and big day like that,” he said.
“It’s like she can feel the crowd, and she knows they’re all watching her, and she wants to put on this big spectacle show,” Martin said of Soleil’s seeming want to impress the group. Steve Donahue/See Spot Run Photo
Soleil was bred by co-owner Nancy May of Towanda, Kansas, and is also co-owned by Patricia Snow of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, and Constance and Timothy Jasinski of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. However, she now lives with Martin full-time, mendacity in Martin’s lap on the sofa and in any other case sticking close as his “Velcro shadow.”
Don’t anticipate an early retirement or a life of leisure for Soleil, though.
The champ shall be taking her abilities to the AKC National Championship in Orlando, Florida, on Dec. 13 14, as nicely as the a hundred and fiftieth Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City next February.
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